NSPCC sets out further service cuts

Children’s charity the NSPCC has published plans to close a
further 16 community projects and cancel the development of two new
projects in order to “focus on the work they do best” and secure
full funding for its remaining teams.

The proposed cuts are the result of a six-month review of the
activities of NSPCC teams across England, Wales and Northern
Ireland.

“This will enable [the NSPCC] to fully fund all its activities
to protect children, provide a balanced range of services, and
further invest in national services such as the national child
protection helpline,” an NSPCC statement issued last week
explained.

If closed, the 18 projects – which range from child protection
teams to family support services – will join a further 17 projects
already set to end, the majority of which are play groups in
Northern Ireland closing in line with the agreed development of
support services. This would bring the total number of remaining
NSPCC projects in the three countries down from 208 to 173.

An NSPCC spokesperson said the new proposals were intended to
align the charity’s activities with its Full Stop campaign to end
cruelty to children, and ensure a “good range and good spread” of
services while making certain that those left could be fully
funded.

But the British Union of Social Work Employees, which represents
500 of the NSPCC’s 1,500-strong workforce, has described the
proposals as contradictory to the charity’s calls for improved
child protection services and has demanded to know why a £9m
surplus from last year was transferred to the charity’s reserves at
a time when services were being threatened with closure.